From the Am-Pol Eagle: PNCC buys Our Lady of Grace Church

For the past few months, members of the Polish National Catholic Church in Western NY have anticipated the possible purchase of two closed Roman Catholic churches —“ Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Brant and Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in Woodlawn. On Fri., March 27 a final decision was made by the PNCC to purchase Our Lady of Grace while the decision to purchase Our Lady of Mount Carmel was put on hold.

The decision to purchase Our Lady of Grace is a cause for celebration for the parishioners at Holy Trinity Parish in Lackawanna whose church was victim to a lightening strike last August that resulted in severe fire and water damage. Holy Trinity has been leasing the church for Sunday worship ever since the strike.

Our Lady of Grace, closed by the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo last summer, became a convenient alternative, being only about two miles away from Holy Trinity and members considered it a blessing because not one Sunday of worship was missed. Our Lady of Grace will now officially be renamed Holy Trinity Parish and serve as the official church for its parishioners.

As for the site in Brant, which was also closed by the Roman Catholic Diocese last summer, PNCC Bishop Thaddeus Peplowski is hopeful saying, —It looks like we are going to be getting both churches. They haven’t made a final decision on it, but it looks good.—

He said, —People down there want to organize a parish and the church is for sale. Rather than having to build a place this place is for sale, so why not buy this one.—

He said the purchases could attract more members. —I think it might because we have quite a few people that live in the suburbs,— said Bishop Peplowski. —We don’t have a church down there so it’s difficult for them especially in the winter to travel north to the Buffalo area, so this will be a big help for them.—

Bishop Peplowski declined to comment about whether any former parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel or other members of the Roman Catholic Church would join the PNCC once the Brant parish is established.

Bishop Edward Kmiec, the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Buffalo, sent a letter out to priests on Feb. 6 to warn Roman Catholics that they would be excommunicated if they joined the Polish National Catholic parish if a sale of the property was consumated…

The Polish National Catholic Diocese, similar to the Roman Catholic Church in many of its teachings, continues to draw in more and more people. One reason for this seems to be the fact that its parishes decide for themselves whether they should close meaning the diocese will never force a church to close…